Welcome to My Beer Blog

I began studying beer as a hobby back in the 70’s. (Yes, in one of H.L. Mencken’s memorable formulations, I even “got some down”, and still do). By studying, I mean I bought a lot of magazine and books, both consumer books describing tastes and styles as well as tomes on how to brew beer in a commercial setting. I’ve never brewed at home, while having great respect for those who do. I did a weekend, hands-on brewing seminar in the 1980’s with William (Bill) Newman in Albany, NY. Bill founded one of the early craft breweries. This enhanced the book knowledge I was acquiring, as did countless tours of production breweries.

I’ve also travelled quite a bit with my wife Libby, mostly in Canada, the U.S. (most regions), England (extensively), France, Belgium, and once in Germany, Austria, and Czech Republic. On my travels, I had the chance to try a lot of beers and develop a good understanding of beer styles and the related culture, extending to the cuisines which accompany beer in its heartlands. For a time I concentrated on cooking dishes using beer as an ingredient, dishes scattered in books from North America, the U.K., France and Belgium, and one day may write a book collecting these recipes. Chicken with beer sauce spiked with genever gin, anyone?

A key point in my beer education was meeting the late beer authority Michael Jackson on many occasions. Indeed Libby and I travelled with him for a week once, in the early 1990’s, to explore the brews and beer culture of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region in France. I am privileged to say he mentioned me a couple of times in his writing. He was a key influence on me and I never would have developed the kind of interest I did in beer but for him. One of the things I learned from him is that beer doesn’t stand alone, it exists in a social, economic and cultural context and understanding beer well means exploring many facets of this larger world.

Of course, I followed craft brewing closely from its earliest days in California. In addition, I have always had a deep interest in beer history. I have contributed a lot of comments over the years on blogs of people I admire greatly who focus on that area, but also on the blogs of many other beer, and food, writers. Many of them, with others, encouraged me to set up my own blog, and finally I have done this.

I intend to explore every facet of beer as I have come to know it but also stretch beyond that occasionally into other drinks, and food. For some years I learned about bourbon and Canadian whiskey, and travelled extensively to Kentucky where the bourbon industry is centered. I was named Bourbonian of the Year a few years ago by www.straightbourbon.com, the leading consumer bourbon site in the world.

I hope you enjoy my particular take on what beer and “et seq.” are all about.

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4 thoughts on “Welcome to My Beer Blog”

A very welcome addition to the blogosphere! I’ve been following your contributions to Bar Towel, Pattinson, Cornell, etc. for some time and look forward to more of your thoughtful, well-researched commentary.

Thank you, Doug. Nice thing to say given Pattinson and Cornell are giants in their fields. They have my utmost admiration. I will try to make my own contributions here, in my way. Beer history is an area I have long been interested in but it is just one area, the dominion of beer can be very diverse and at times I might leave the beer borders entirely! At all events I’ll do my best.